Deterrence in Europe

Abstract

For more than forty years, the United States has employed nuclear weapons in support of its NATO commitments. These weapons have served both strategic and political purposes. Strategically, NATO intended its theater nuclear forces (TNF) to deter conventional and nuclear attack on Western Europe and to support battlefield operations in case of war. Politically, the deployment of TNF on the continent symbolized the American commitment to NATO by effectively tying U.S. national survival to the alliance. It also reduced incentives on the part of nonnuclear allies to acquire nuclear weapons of their own. These strategic and political purposes were subsumed under the broader strategy of extended deterrence.